1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:15,000 This is Hacker Public Radio episode 3,923 for Wednesday, the 16th of August 2023. 2 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:19,360 Today's show is entitled, Meal Preparation. 3 00:00:19,360 --> 00:00:24,880 It is hosted by some guy on the internet and is about 41 minutes long. 4 00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:27,480 It carries a clean flag. 5 00:00:27,480 --> 00:00:41,000 The summary is, Scotty Chats with Bumblebee about Meal Preparation. 6 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:43,880 Hello and welcome to another episode of Hacker Public Radio. 7 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:48,480 I'm your host, some guy on the internet and I'm here with Bumblebee. 8 00:00:48,480 --> 00:00:51,480 And we're here to discuss Meal Preparation. 9 00:00:51,480 --> 00:00:55,480 Alright, be a while back, we were talking about Meal Preparation. 10 00:00:55,480 --> 00:01:00,920 You gave some wonderful details about it and meet a person who's never done it. 11 00:01:00,920 --> 00:01:05,960 I'm interested in having these details recorded, especially for others who want to participate 12 00:01:05,960 --> 00:01:06,960 in Meal Preparation. 13 00:01:06,960 --> 00:01:11,320 Can you give us a quick brief on what Meal Preparation is? 14 00:01:11,320 --> 00:01:17,320 Meal Preparation is basically your prepping for the rest of your week, especially for people 15 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:21,040 that are parents or people that have very busy lives. 16 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:27,320 It's really good to pick a day that you're either off or less busy and prep everything 17 00:01:27,320 --> 00:01:28,320 for the week. 18 00:01:28,320 --> 00:01:34,040 If you think about just one meal, if you're making something as simple as, let's say, spaghetti. 19 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:39,760 You put onions, ground beef, pasta, maybe fresh tomatoes, whatever you put in it, you 20 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:41,880 have to cut the onion, cut the tomato. 21 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:48,880 Just think if you several days prior, you had cut, let's say, four onions and now you 22 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:52,240 don't have to sit there and spend five minutes doing that. 23 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:53,640 It's already all done. 24 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:58,080 It sounds like you're getting a lot of the tedious stuff out of the way so that when 25 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:03,560 you go to prepare the meal, the ingredients is already prepped. 26 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:04,560 Absolutely. 27 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:10,680 So, Meal Prepping and Meal Plans, they kind of go hand in hand. 28 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:17,440 What I do exactly is before I go grocery shopping, before I even make a grocery list, I 29 00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:25,080 sit and I make a whole entire list of maybe between 15 to probably 20 meals and one month, 30 00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:30,440 you'll probably at least one thing twice, whether you're eating it as leftovers or you're 31 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:32,200 just making a twice. 32 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:35,880 It's really good to make a whole entire list and then from that list of meals, you then 33 00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:39,640 make your grocery list and you'll always duplicate. 34 00:02:39,640 --> 00:02:43,480 So if you make several things with onions, obviously you don't need one onion, you need 35 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:48,200 several onions or potatoes or whatever you use for that meal. 36 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:54,320 For me, I like to, so Sunday is my day that I do food prep, chores, whatever. 37 00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:56,600 That's the day that I do my things. 38 00:02:56,600 --> 00:03:01,360 I will prep for the week and that is the best advice I can tell most people. 39 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:06,960 If you're not freezing these meal-prepped items, it's best to do for the week because 40 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:09,200 that keeps things from going bad. 41 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:14,040 It's not easy to be like, okay, Wednesday, I'm making tacos. 42 00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:18,320 Thursday I'm making spaghetti, because you don't know how much you're going to eat that 43 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:23,040 week and so it's kind of like you go as you go. 44 00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:28,160 So if you come home and it's really late at night and you want to grab that freezer meal 45 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:30,720 that you happen to make, then that's great. 46 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:35,920 But if you want to sit and make, like I said, tacos or whatever and everything is already 47 00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:39,160 prepped and you just have to either throw it in the microwave or throw it in a pan, 48 00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:43,000 I call those dumplings when you throw it all in one pan and then it's done. 49 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:47,800 So that's what I do throughout the week to make my life easier throughout the week when 50 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:53,200 you're working between 8 and 12 hours a day is it's really good to have everything planned 51 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:54,200 in advance. 52 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:58,480 So it's meal prep and meal plan. 53 00:03:58,480 --> 00:03:59,480 Absolutely. 54 00:03:59,480 --> 00:04:00,480 They definitely go hand in hand. 55 00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:04,400 I mean, of course, you can just do food prep. 56 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:07,600 That's your thing and you don't want to do the whole meal plan. 57 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:11,880 My person opinion is meal planning and meal prepping go hand in hand because if you're 58 00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:14,520 prepping the food, what are you prepping it for? 59 00:04:14,520 --> 00:04:18,800 You're prepping it for a meal that you have planned. 60 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:24,880 Cutting vegetables no longer than a week in advance because onions release a gas. 61 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:27,520 When you cut them, it's best to leave them in the refrigerator. 62 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:28,520 Don't put them on the counter. 63 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:34,280 Yes, they will be fine, but they release a gas which will make them go bad faster. 64 00:04:34,280 --> 00:04:38,680 And then with apples, apples turn brown, same things with potatoes. 65 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:39,680 They'll turn brown. 66 00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:41,360 So you have to pick and choose. 67 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:47,720 So I recommend, let's say you're doing a potato casserole, okay? 68 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:52,320 Unless you're willing to freeze, said casserole, I don't recommend you cutting them for 69 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:57,400 the week because if you cut them, but at the time you use them, even though they're technically 70 00:04:57,400 --> 00:05:02,600 having gone bad, who wants to eat a brown looking potato, like it's not pretty. 71 00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:07,360 It goes with that the feast with your eyes and then with your mouth kind of thing. 72 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:08,360 Exactly. 73 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:12,680 Like even though there have been tips and tricks, they say like, oh, if you get the 74 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:17,080 potatoes and put them in water after they're cut or if you do this, who wants to have 75 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:19,880 a bowl of water with potatoes in their fridge. 76 00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:20,880 I don't. 77 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:23,760 Some people might and then that changes the starch and all that other stuff. 78 00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:29,160 So my advice for certain vegetables, you have to do your own research, which ones are 79 00:05:29,160 --> 00:05:30,160 best frozen. 80 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:35,920 I prefer don't like frozen green beans or frozen squash or frozen zucchini. 81 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:39,400 Potatoes do well, very, very well frozen. 82 00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:47,200 So I, in my household, we like a lot of like dumb meals for a meal plan. 83 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:53,000 So I get up in the morning, I have my coffee and then I go to McDonald's, is that a good 84 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:54,000 meal plan? 85 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:59,960 No, I guess you're planning to go to McDonald's, but if you're trying to 86 00:05:59,960 --> 00:06:07,600 cook at home, not necessarily meal planning is your planning several days in advance in my 87 00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:09,080 personal opinion. 88 00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:14,880 For me, right now, in my freezer right now, I have a lasagna that's frozen, it's completely 89 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:19,080 not really cooked, it's been cooked, it's been prepped, it's been everything. 90 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:24,600 So let's say there's a night where I'm just too exhausted to make a lasagna just the 91 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:32,040 prep time to cooking the meats, doing the cheese, doing all of the stuff I put vegetables 92 00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:37,320 in my lasagna, like onions and all those things, it takes time, just to prep it and then 93 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:41,520 cooking it, because I put eggs inside my ricotta cheese. 94 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:45,200 So you have to make sure that's cooked because you can't eat raw eggs. 95 00:06:45,200 --> 00:06:49,560 So doing that whole thing, you'll probably spend two hours just making lasagna. 96 00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:53,840 I don't know about you, but if you get home at six, seven, eight o'clock at night, especially 97 00:06:53,840 --> 00:06:56,240 people with kids, they don't want to eat that late at night. 98 00:06:56,240 --> 00:07:02,600 So let's say it's frozen, it'll probably take 30 minutes to cook, maybe 45, it already 99 00:07:02,600 --> 00:07:03,600 being done. 100 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:07,200 You literally take it out of the refrigerator or freezer and throw it in the oven. 101 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:12,160 I cooked a whole bunch of chicken and then I divided it into three sections. 102 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:17,320 So it's cooked chicken, that's frozen, but all I have to do is microwave it or throw it 103 00:07:17,320 --> 00:07:20,880 in a dump meal or stir fry it, because it's already cooked. 104 00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:25,920 A lot of meats and stuff when you put them in the refrigerator to these raw, they only 105 00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:28,440 last in their for a short period of time when they're raw. 106 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:31,200 So if you cook it, obviously that makes the time longer. 107 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:33,240 Cooked food last longer and the refrigerator. 108 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:38,640 It sounds to me like if you were definitely on a diet, if you had certain health issues 109 00:07:38,640 --> 00:07:45,200 and things of that nature, and you really had to focus on specific foods, this will be 110 00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:50,760 a great way to not only buy those foods, but always make sure you have a different 111 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:51,760 meal. 112 00:07:51,760 --> 00:07:56,240 So you don't run into that issue of having the exact same, you know, basically burning 113 00:07:56,240 --> 00:08:00,840 out on a specific type of food or whatever, you could have a variety. 114 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:01,840 Absolutely. 115 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:04,720 And then on top of that, it's also for budget reasons as well. 116 00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:11,000 That's where I started when I was younger and then when I moved around being a young college 117 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:12,600 student, I did that. 118 00:08:12,600 --> 00:08:18,600 That was my thing instead of having to eat like ramen noodles or, you know, spaghetti, whatever 119 00:08:18,600 --> 00:08:20,000 all the time. 120 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:24,040 A lot of people eat the same thing over and over again because it's simple. 121 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:25,040 It's easy. 122 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:26,040 It's fast. 123 00:08:26,040 --> 00:08:31,360 All of those things or you have children that are more picky or you have family members 124 00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:36,440 that have dietary reasons, like you said, either being diabetic or diet or whatever. 125 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:38,920 For us, we like variety. 126 00:08:38,920 --> 00:08:42,000 We want something different all the time, not the same thing. 127 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:48,760 You can even make it so if you don't want a dump meal, like a soup or a stew or a lasagna 128 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:51,760 like that, because that's considered a dump pan meal. 129 00:08:51,760 --> 00:08:55,560 You're protein, you're vegetable, you're starch, all in one thing. 130 00:08:55,560 --> 00:08:57,240 Well, think of it this way. 131 00:08:57,240 --> 00:09:00,440 If you're, let's say you had fresh cream beans. 132 00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:06,680 Well, let's say they're already snipped on both ends and cut in half and blanched. 133 00:09:06,680 --> 00:09:10,120 Blanched means lightly cooked, half cooked. 134 00:09:10,120 --> 00:09:14,120 Well, then when they're out of the refrigerator or anything like that, you can then 135 00:09:14,120 --> 00:09:15,760 have them for the rest of the week. 136 00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:18,280 So all you have to do is throw them in a pan and you're done. 137 00:09:19,240 --> 00:09:25,320 Right now, I have probably a court-sized bag full of onions that I do. 138 00:09:25,320 --> 00:09:31,160 I, when I make breakfast for myself in the morning, I have onions, potatoes. 139 00:09:31,160 --> 00:09:32,840 I put them in a pan. 140 00:09:32,840 --> 00:09:35,160 I now don't have to cut my onions. 141 00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:36,760 I just cut up one potato. 142 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:37,880 Simple as that. 143 00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:42,120 When earlier tonight, I had chicken that I stir fried. 144 00:09:42,120 --> 00:09:43,720 Chicken that was already cooked. 145 00:09:43,720 --> 00:09:47,400 I stir fried onions in it and then I put it with some rice. 146 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:51,960 Rice that I had cooked on Sunday, I cooked some white rice. 147 00:09:51,960 --> 00:09:57,960 It took me on Sunday probably less than two hours to cook everything for the week. 148 00:09:57,960 --> 00:10:02,200 And when I say week, I mean all the way until Sunday because you still have to eat on Sunday, 149 00:10:02,200 --> 00:10:03,560 even though you're prepping. 150 00:10:03,560 --> 00:10:09,080 So Monday, all the way through Sunday, you have to think about what you are prepping 151 00:10:09,080 --> 00:10:12,600 through your whole entire meal plan list. 152 00:10:12,600 --> 00:10:16,120 So if you have 20 items on that list, you're not going to say, 153 00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:17,560 Monday, I'm going to have tacos. 154 00:10:17,560 --> 00:10:18,680 Tuesday, I'm going to have lasagna. 155 00:10:18,680 --> 00:10:19,320 When is it? 156 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:21,000 Because there might be leftovers. 157 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:24,440 You might not want tacos on Monday when that day comes. 158 00:10:24,440 --> 00:10:33,400 So my idea that I do is I make sure that I have in my refrigerator an average of whatever 159 00:10:33,400 --> 00:10:35,800 I need that happens to be on that list. 160 00:10:35,800 --> 00:10:42,840 Not everything because then we go back to the only cut for the week, have an average. 161 00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:47,880 So right now in my fridge, the onions are probably two to three onions that I cut. 162 00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:52,120 That will be fine for any meal I have on my list. 163 00:10:52,120 --> 00:10:53,160 Do you understand? 164 00:10:53,160 --> 00:10:56,120 Yeah, because that's like that universal item. 165 00:10:56,120 --> 00:10:58,440 So you can always have that prepared. 166 00:10:58,440 --> 00:10:59,960 No, absolutely. 167 00:10:59,960 --> 00:11:01,240 What about stores? 168 00:11:01,240 --> 00:11:07,880 Do you select, like the safe for instance, I've seen in movies or like a TV show or something 169 00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:13,240 where guy opened up his freezer and he'd have multiple containers with like that 170 00:11:13,240 --> 00:11:18,040 that Monday through Friday or whatever in his freezer or refrigerator, you know what I'm saying? 171 00:11:18,040 --> 00:11:24,120 Do you have something like that or do you recommend that type of storage for the meal solutions? 172 00:11:24,680 --> 00:11:25,880 That's a good question. 173 00:11:25,880 --> 00:11:29,480 So there are devices out here that are food savers. 174 00:11:29,480 --> 00:11:31,000 I never bought one. 175 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:35,320 I, it's just not my thing, freezer bags are very cheap. 176 00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:39,400 So speaking of freezer bags, just freezer is the plug bags. 177 00:11:39,400 --> 00:11:40,520 That's the only thing I buy. 178 00:11:40,520 --> 00:11:42,360 I don't buy the regular storage ones. 179 00:11:42,360 --> 00:11:46,760 I just buy the freezer because it's just easier for me to have one back in Bolboa. 180 00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:49,160 I buy court size and I buy gallons. 181 00:11:49,160 --> 00:11:51,320 So my dump meals are always in the gallon. 182 00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:53,160 I write what is on it. 183 00:11:53,160 --> 00:11:56,120 Normally I'm the cook at the house, so I just write what's on it. 184 00:11:56,120 --> 00:11:59,800 But sometimes for certain meals that I know my husband prefers, 185 00:11:59,800 --> 00:12:01,880 I will write what's on it. 186 00:12:01,880 --> 00:12:06,600 Where it gets cooked at, whether it's the inspot of in pan, etc. 187 00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:10,040 How long to cook it for and I write the date. 188 00:12:10,040 --> 00:12:15,000 So I write the date of when I made it and how long I recommend it to be in there. 189 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:22,040 Because we have such a habit of throwing something in the freezer and totally forgetting it 190 00:12:22,040 --> 00:12:24,840 after you went grocery shopping and there's shoved everything else in there. 191 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:28,680 So before you know it, you have three or four freezer meals in the back of your freezer. 192 00:12:28,680 --> 00:12:32,600 Especially for us, we have a dump chest freezer. 193 00:12:32,600 --> 00:12:34,760 So you have to search through the whole thing. 194 00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:41,320 So organization is really key and then I also write down for my mood, my food plan list. 195 00:12:41,320 --> 00:12:45,240 I write down the ones that I've already made for my freezer list. 196 00:12:45,240 --> 00:12:52,200 So I'll write down a list of the ones that I have made and put in said freezer. 197 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:57,800 So then all I have to do is look at this list and oh, I have two pounds of ground beef 198 00:12:57,880 --> 00:13:01,240 that I cooked for tacos or lasagna or etc. 199 00:13:01,240 --> 00:13:07,000 Or I have pre-made jambalaya, you know, something along the lines of that. 200 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:11,960 So you know what you have so those things will get freezer burn, ruin and then you're just wasting 201 00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:15,800 money and your time that you took two cook set items. 202 00:13:15,800 --> 00:13:23,000 You said use these freezer bags, not regular zip lock bags, which means you destroy the planet 203 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:26,040 because these are going to get thrown into trash. 204 00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:29,160 And then, you know, whales are going to eat them and they're going to die. 205 00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:31,240 I have two different types. 206 00:13:31,240 --> 00:13:34,760 I do have ones that are disposable and they are recycling. 207 00:13:34,760 --> 00:13:37,720 So that is another indication. 208 00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:40,760 And two, I have some that are reusable. 209 00:13:40,760 --> 00:13:45,640 They're made out of plastic, they're harder plastic, they're reusable and they're for the freezer 210 00:13:45,640 --> 00:13:48,040 and I have some that are for regular snacks. 211 00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:49,240 Those are the ones I use. 212 00:13:49,240 --> 00:13:54,600 But be mindful of those are their fantastic and they're gotten a lot cheaper. 213 00:13:54,680 --> 00:13:56,600 They used to be a little bit more expensive. 214 00:13:56,600 --> 00:13:59,480 I bought some on Amazon and I also bought some at Walmart. 215 00:13:59,480 --> 00:14:02,440 I think for the freezer ones are a little bit priceier. 216 00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:08,760 But I bought eight of them for six dollars, which I feel like that's a great price, especially for 217 00:14:08,760 --> 00:14:10,200 gallon size. 218 00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:14,920 They do take a little bit more space than the regular box zip lock bags. 219 00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:20,600 But what I do to clean them after whatever you have in there is removed, 220 00:14:20,600 --> 00:14:24,120 whether it's defrosted, removed, whatever, I turn the bag inside out. 221 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:26,840 I do scrub it up, and I leave it out like that. 222 00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:29,320 And it dries and it's perfectly fine to reuse. 223 00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:33,240 I want to say what I use right on it exactly. 224 00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:38,520 What I do to write on it is I get a piece of tape because you don't want to write on your 225 00:14:38,520 --> 00:14:41,320 plastic bag, not like the ones you can dispose. 226 00:14:41,320 --> 00:14:44,280 Those ones are easy, throw them away and you don't care. 227 00:14:44,280 --> 00:14:48,440 But the ones you have, I just get a, yeah. 228 00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:53,960 And I put a piece of tape on it and then I write on it with Sharpie and then I remove it. 229 00:14:53,960 --> 00:15:01,160 So they have at Walmart and at all these, those are the ones that are used that are recyclable. 230 00:15:01,160 --> 00:15:05,400 If you want to get the disposable version, they are 100% recyclable. 231 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:11,720 The ones at Dollar Tree and I believe Dollar General are not recyclable. 232 00:15:11,720 --> 00:15:14,040 You have to look on the box before you get them. 233 00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:16,920 There's lots of the chip bags and all of those things. 234 00:15:16,920 --> 00:15:19,960 They're not recyclable anymore as much as they used to be. 235 00:15:19,960 --> 00:15:23,640 So I don't know what they put in the plastic to make it recyclable. 236 00:15:23,640 --> 00:15:27,560 I'm not quite sure, but those ones are recyclable. 237 00:15:27,560 --> 00:15:33,240 And if you get the freezer disposable zip lock bags, make sure it's a double zip. 238 00:15:33,240 --> 00:15:34,600 Make sure it's not the single zip. 239 00:15:34,600 --> 00:15:35,400 Make sure it's double. 240 00:15:35,400 --> 00:15:41,480 Because the double ones make it easier to, I think all the freezer ones are now double, right? 241 00:15:41,480 --> 00:15:45,400 I don't think they're making your freezer ones that are single anymore, right? 242 00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:51,480 Ad Dollar Tree, they're singles, but they're blue and they're a thicker one. 243 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:52,440 They're like thicker. 244 00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:57,080 So I guess that helps, but having the double one is really important. 245 00:15:57,080 --> 00:16:00,440 But I did think of another hack with certain vegetables. 246 00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:05,960 So a lot of certain vegetables are water-based, several of them. 247 00:16:05,960 --> 00:16:10,360 Like zucchini for one thing are water-based. 248 00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:14,920 So depending on what vegetables you use, for instance, if you want to do 249 00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:18,520 I cut up cucumbers a lot and I cut up celery. 250 00:16:18,520 --> 00:16:25,000 So for celery, for instance, the best way to store celery after you cut the tail and the head off 251 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:29,480 is to storing it vertical with half of it into water. 252 00:16:29,480 --> 00:16:33,160 For some reason that does really well with them, it keeps some hydrated, it keeps them from going 253 00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:36,280 flimsy, all of the things for lettuce. 254 00:16:36,280 --> 00:16:42,120 When you cut up lettuce and either after you wash it, cut it and everything, it's good to dry it out 255 00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:47,880 and then put, if you put it in a Ziploc bag or said bowl, because sometimes I put mine in bowls, 256 00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:53,480 it's good to put paper towels in there because water from the lettuce will sleep on to other 257 00:16:53,480 --> 00:16:58,040 pieces of lettuce and then before you know it, you have very not pretty lettuce and it's not 258 00:16:58,040 --> 00:16:59,400 appetizing or crisp. 259 00:16:59,400 --> 00:17:07,560 So I use paper towels, it's just such an easy trick to do to make it last much longer. 260 00:17:07,560 --> 00:17:13,640 And then I put dates on everything, when I open spaghetti sauce or tomato sauce in the jars, 261 00:17:13,640 --> 00:17:17,480 I just get a Sharpie and write the date that I opened it on there. 262 00:17:17,480 --> 00:17:21,960 Because those ones are specific, like you can't keep them longer than like I think it's 10 days 263 00:17:21,960 --> 00:17:23,320 that they recommend. 264 00:17:23,320 --> 00:17:28,600 So to keep this goes back to the budget thing, to make sure you're not wasting food, 265 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:32,120 to make sure that you're not blowing money on just throwing food away. 266 00:17:32,120 --> 00:17:36,680 Because I feel like that's a lot of things in this country as we chuck food constantly. 267 00:17:36,760 --> 00:17:40,200 Like I'm I'm a leftover person. 268 00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:41,240 I'm big on leftovers. 269 00:17:41,240 --> 00:17:42,200 My husband isn't. 270 00:17:42,200 --> 00:17:43,960 He's not a big leftover person. 271 00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:48,520 So sometimes I have to doll up our leftovers. 272 00:17:48,520 --> 00:17:51,720 So I have to like make it into something else. 273 00:17:51,720 --> 00:17:56,520 So if I have leftovers for green beans or baked potato or whatever, 274 00:17:56,520 --> 00:18:00,360 whatever, all then make something else to go with it. 275 00:18:00,360 --> 00:18:04,600 So if I had chicken one night with those in the sides, then I'll do fish the next night. 276 00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:06,920 So it's not as repetitive. 277 00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:09,400 If that makes sense for me, I'll eat whatever. 278 00:18:09,400 --> 00:18:10,280 I'm happy with it. 279 00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:13,240 But doing the list and sticking to it, 280 00:18:13,240 --> 00:18:15,320 but not being overly strict on it. 281 00:18:15,320 --> 00:18:17,640 So don't make it a monthly thing. 282 00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:20,760 You will draw yourself out in my opinion. 283 00:18:20,760 --> 00:18:21,800 I've tried to do that. 284 00:18:21,800 --> 00:18:23,160 I've tried to do those. 285 00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:25,800 They have those planners, those food man planners, 286 00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:28,280 where you can do Monday this Tuesday that. 287 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:34,040 It's exhausting to then having to remember or plan that far in advance. 288 00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:36,920 Too much for me in my personal opinion. 289 00:18:36,920 --> 00:18:38,840 I pick from the list and I choose that. 290 00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:39,800 That's what I do. 291 00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:42,520 It makes it life 10 times easier. 292 00:18:42,520 --> 00:18:46,920 And you can also, I guess we're mostly talking about dinners at the moment, 293 00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:52,440 but you can use a handful of these items for lunches too. 294 00:18:52,440 --> 00:18:54,520 Like the chicken that I did tonight, 295 00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:58,200 I'm going to use some of that chicken for lunch tomorrow. 296 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:00,760 I can either, I mean, they're going to do it in a salad, 297 00:19:00,760 --> 00:19:02,920 or I'm going to do it in a regular sandwich. 298 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:04,360 You just have to pick and choose. 299 00:19:05,640 --> 00:19:09,960 I see that you assumed that we were only talking about dinners, 300 00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:12,520 but I only eat cake and pie. 301 00:19:12,520 --> 00:19:15,480 So I was personally talking about dinners. 302 00:19:15,480 --> 00:19:18,840 I feel like most time when people meal plan, they do dinner, 303 00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:22,440 because most people kids are at school and they eat lunch. 304 00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:26,440 And us adults, we eat lunch, I work, most of the time. 305 00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:33,640 So having a meal plan based on all day thing is not normally practical. 306 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:35,400 It's normally based on dinners. 307 00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:37,240 And the reason why I said that. 308 00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:39,160 And when have you ever ate cake? 309 00:19:39,160 --> 00:19:42,120 I've never even heard you eat cake in pie, FYI. 310 00:19:42,120 --> 00:19:43,320 Now did I think about it? 311 00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:44,520 You're right. I don't even think. 312 00:19:44,520 --> 00:19:46,920 I can't remember the last time I actually ate cake or pie. 313 00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:50,600 And that's another thing. 314 00:19:50,680 --> 00:19:57,720 Having people that have kids, having them join to make the meal plans. 315 00:19:57,720 --> 00:20:00,440 Like, hey, what do you want to eat this week? 316 00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:01,480 Just random things. 317 00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:02,680 Oh, thank you. 318 00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:03,320 Really? 319 00:20:03,320 --> 00:20:04,920 Old older kids, yes. 320 00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:07,320 But, uh, oh, not little kids, yeah. 321 00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:10,920 But, believe or not, I did that with the munchkins I used to watch. 322 00:20:10,920 --> 00:20:14,520 And we made the weirdest crap and they ate so much of it. 323 00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:16,280 They wanted spaghetti tacos. 324 00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:17,960 Oh, that sounds so good. 325 00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:19,640 Anything tacos, yeah, though. 326 00:20:19,640 --> 00:20:21,160 I love tacos with everything. 327 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:24,840 But, yeah, that, I mean, it's a little weird, but I did it. 328 00:20:24,840 --> 00:20:25,960 It's so weird. 329 00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:29,560 And the little boys, they were like, uh, I was like, 330 00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:31,400 I don't know if we want spaghetti or tacos. 331 00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:32,600 It's like, let's do both. 332 00:20:32,600 --> 00:20:33,640 Spaghetti tacos. 333 00:20:33,640 --> 00:20:34,840 And I was like, what? 334 00:20:34,840 --> 00:20:36,200 And I thought it was, this weird thing. 335 00:20:36,200 --> 00:20:37,720 It was in the hard tacos. 336 00:20:37,720 --> 00:20:38,360 Yes. 337 00:20:38,360 --> 00:20:40,920 And I put like a hard tacos because otherwise, 338 00:20:40,920 --> 00:20:42,680 you would not get any texture anything. 339 00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:44,200 It'd be too, too good. 340 00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:45,000 Yeah. 341 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:50,520 And these kids normally would eat maybe one taco or half taco, 342 00:20:50,520 --> 00:20:52,120 or a little bit of spaghetti. 343 00:20:52,120 --> 00:20:54,840 If I had made them individually, I made them together. 344 00:20:54,840 --> 00:20:57,480 Both of them ate like between two to three tacos. 345 00:20:57,480 --> 00:20:59,320 Because it was something they really wanted. 346 00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:00,920 They really weren't like light. 347 00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:03,640 It was fun and weird, you know. 348 00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:05,640 And, you know, boys are gross. 349 00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:07,560 So it was perfect. 350 00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:08,680 I mean, they were delicious. 351 00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:10,440 So I can't really say gross much about it. 352 00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:11,960 But it's stuff like that. 353 00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:15,560 My husband, when he picks a meal, he normally eats more of it. 354 00:21:15,560 --> 00:21:18,200 Because either he's craving it or he really, you know, 355 00:21:18,200 --> 00:21:19,880 just because he was hungry. 356 00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:20,520 I don't know. 357 00:21:20,520 --> 00:21:23,240 But normally when he picks items, he does that. 358 00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:28,280 So every month, I usually do it at the last week of every month. 359 00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:32,280 So I have already made my meal meal plan list, 360 00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:36,040 which it's normally the same thing as the one before. 361 00:21:36,040 --> 00:21:39,240 I do have a, would you have cheat days, obviously? 362 00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:40,840 Because you have to plan for those. 363 00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:43,160 Not every single day, you're going to cook from home. 364 00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:48,840 Some people go out to eat or you don't plan for that leftovers that you didn't eat. 365 00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:49,880 I don't eat a lot. 366 00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:52,200 I eat a very small portions. 367 00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:54,440 Children's size portions, normally. 368 00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:57,000 So I have lots of leftovers. 369 00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:00,600 My husband, on the other hand, when he's home, he eats 370 00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:02,760 between three to four people, okay? 371 00:22:02,760 --> 00:22:04,040 So he's a big eater. 372 00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:06,440 So when I cook, I accommodate for that. 373 00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:08,280 When he's home and when I'm home. 374 00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:16,600 So that being said, I feel like making only 15 to 20 on your list is a good number. 375 00:22:16,600 --> 00:22:19,480 Doing too many is one too many choose from. 376 00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:21,480 You know, if you have too many options, 377 00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:22,920 you're just going to be like, I don't know. 378 00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:26,120 You know, and so, yes, 30 of them, 379 00:22:26,120 --> 00:22:29,240 the likelihood of you cooking all of them is not normal. 380 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:33,160 Pinterest is a really good tool to look up really good recipes. 381 00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:37,000 Well, I'm going to have to bash that one 382 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:39,800 because a lot of the recipes I wanted, 383 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:44,440 what they wanted me to go off platform to some other place to go get the recipe. 384 00:22:44,440 --> 00:22:48,040 So they have this really beautiful looking picture going, oh, you know, 385 00:22:48,040 --> 00:22:51,080 this is a great thing you can make when you click on it. 386 00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:54,680 It's like, now come to our other site where we're going to tell you how to make it. 387 00:22:54,680 --> 00:23:00,120 I don't know where you're talking about, but I have used Pinterest for years. 388 00:23:00,120 --> 00:23:02,920 You just click the photo and that's the link. 389 00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:05,960 It's not like, obviously some of them are like, 390 00:23:06,360 --> 00:23:08,360 give us your email and we'll send you something. 391 00:23:08,360 --> 00:23:10,600 So yeah, that's what we're talking about. 392 00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:14,200 It's as garble with some of the good ones. 393 00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:18,760 I was looking up some of the non-meat meals. 394 00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:20,760 I wouldn't exactly call them vegetarian. 395 00:23:20,760 --> 00:23:24,440 I don't know what they classify that, but they don't have meat in them. 396 00:23:24,440 --> 00:23:29,400 And I was trying to find some good ones that are simple that I could make 397 00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:31,800 without burning the place that you meals. 398 00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:33,800 Yeah, you know, veggie meals. 399 00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:37,160 And they, they look pretty good, but when I clicked on them, 400 00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:40,520 they were all of them were like, you know, hey, you have to come to us, 401 00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:42,200 basically leave Pinterest. 402 00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:47,960 The place where advertising is me alone so that you can now get the recipe. 403 00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:49,560 I'm like, man, screw this. 404 00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:51,320 If they allow this kind of behavior. 405 00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:55,640 Think Pinterest as a, as kind of like a third party broker. 406 00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:58,600 And all of these posts are blogs. 407 00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:03,000 Every single one of them is someone that blogged and posts their 408 00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:07,960 link on there where their blog is, because a lot of times when they're recipes 409 00:24:07,960 --> 00:24:13,160 in my opinion do work, you go to another page where they talk a little bit about 410 00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:16,280 their life, whether they talk about their kids or their husband and how amazing 411 00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:19,080 this recipe is and how their kids love it and blah, blah, blah, blah. 412 00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:23,560 And then you go down sometimes there'll be like a tab where you can jump to 413 00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:25,320 recipe and it just dumps all the way down. 414 00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:27,480 Sometimes I read them most of the time I don't. 415 00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:29,880 You can just dump all the way down and find the recipe. 416 00:24:29,880 --> 00:24:31,560 Obviously, YouTube is a good one. 417 00:24:31,640 --> 00:24:34,680 The only thing about YouTube is you have to sit there and watch the whole video. 418 00:24:34,680 --> 00:24:41,400 So if someone is cooking and it takes 30 minutes to make that video or that meal, 419 00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:44,600 it's going to, you're going to watch it 30 minutes video to figure out one meal. 420 00:24:44,600 --> 00:24:49,480 So in my opinion, yeah, so that's why I do Pinterest. 421 00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:52,440 Obviously, I'm pretty sure Google has some too. 422 00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:54,120 I do have books. 423 00:24:54,120 --> 00:24:55,960 I like books. 424 00:24:55,960 --> 00:24:57,480 I'm a big bookworm. 425 00:24:57,560 --> 00:25:01,160 So I do have quite a bit of recipe books. 426 00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:05,560 I actually got this PDF one recently from the 50s. 427 00:25:06,360 --> 00:25:07,800 So funny. 428 00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:08,840 So funny. 429 00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:11,400 Like some of them are like, there's like chicken. 430 00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:12,440 It beats. 431 00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:17,880 Yeah, from the 50s, some of them sound disgusting and I can't wait to try them. 432 00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:24,440 Some, there was this one, this one casserole that was chicken, cheese and something else. 433 00:25:24,520 --> 00:25:28,120 But they put gelatin in it. 434 00:25:28,120 --> 00:25:35,160 Like stuff that's made with jello, like made in jello, right, jello, and I'm like, oh my god, 435 00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:38,040 chicken with jello is essentially what it is. 436 00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:40,600 It's also gross. 437 00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:43,080 Yeah, I mean, you know, hey, you know. 438 00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:45,720 I do wait to try it. 439 00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:47,480 Oh my god, no. 440 00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:48,920 Let me just go ahead and get there. 441 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:53,640 I love note here to call 911 for your husband because I can already tell. 442 00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:56,280 This is no real bad deal. 443 00:25:56,280 --> 00:26:00,120 Yeah, just, yeah, I mean, but don't get wrong. 444 00:26:00,120 --> 00:26:03,560 I've done, and then also don't be afraid to experiment. 445 00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:05,240 That's another thing with a lot of these, 446 00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:11,640 these, you know, since you do have time to do X, Y, and Z of cooking because you 447 00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:13,000 prepped in ahead of time. 448 00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:15,960 So all the vegetables that would have taken you, you know, 449 00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:19,000 10, 15, 20 minutes cut up, depending on what it is, 450 00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:21,240 depending on how fast or a cutter you are, et cetera, et cetera. 451 00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:24,520 You can then experiment and add other things. 452 00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:25,880 If it's bad, don't do it again. 453 00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:28,120 If it's great, then that's something that you should write down. 454 00:26:28,120 --> 00:26:30,760 That's kind of the thing that I've done throughout cooking. 455 00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:36,760 Um, me and my husband, one of our favorite recipes that I've done is I made these 456 00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:42,280 fish tacos recently and we didn't have any meat, but fish hadn't gone to the grocery store 457 00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:44,280 and all we had was fish at the time. 458 00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:50,120 So I was like, all right, well, we have fish and I have, you know, shells, 459 00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:51,720 but they were the sauce shells. 460 00:26:51,720 --> 00:26:55,320 And I was like, I'm going to say that you're talking about crunchies. 461 00:26:55,320 --> 00:26:57,080 You're talking about sauce shells? 462 00:26:57,080 --> 00:26:58,440 Yeah, that's what it is. 463 00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:01,400 Don't get me wrong, tacos are great no matter how, 464 00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:03,080 but I'm a crunchy guy. 465 00:27:03,080 --> 00:27:06,600 I use the soft tacos when we make um, uh, 466 00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:09,160 taco salads, or do you those? 467 00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:14,040 Um, but I actually learned how to make the crunch wrap from Taco Bell. 468 00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:17,400 That's another thing you can learn how to make and it's fantastic. 469 00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:19,000 My husband loves it. 470 00:27:19,080 --> 00:27:25,400 So I will literally have in my freezer right now, I have a pack of, 471 00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:30,600 it's like a pound and a half of taco meat and it says crunch wrap meat, 472 00:27:30,600 --> 00:27:35,720 because I add more to it than I would regular tacos because it's just, 473 00:27:35,720 --> 00:27:37,880 it's a different type of taco. 474 00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:42,520 So I add like fajita seasoning and cayenne pepper and all of this other stuff and it's 475 00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:48,680 wonderful and I even add like hot sauce in it when I cook it and onions and garlic and 476 00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:54,520 it's okay to basically food prepping is cutting corners and doing shortcuts. 477 00:27:54,520 --> 00:27:56,680 I don't cut garlic. 478 00:27:56,680 --> 00:27:59,400 I buy in the jar fresh garlic. 479 00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:03,240 Well, you use minced garden like pre-matched garlic. 480 00:28:03,240 --> 00:28:03,960 Yep. 481 00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:05,800 Yep, I don't use dry powder. 482 00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:07,080 Where's my phone? 483 00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:09,160 Let me go ahead and hit. 484 00:28:09,160 --> 00:28:10,440 Hello officer. 485 00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:13,160 Yes, she's here. 486 00:28:13,560 --> 00:28:15,240 And she's talking crazy. 487 00:28:16,120 --> 00:28:17,080 What are you use? 488 00:28:17,160 --> 00:28:19,160 Use fresh garlic or do you use garlic powder? 489 00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:23,560 Well, we do use garlic powder as well, but fresh garlic is the best. 490 00:28:23,560 --> 00:28:28,920 I even, I have to admit, I eventually, for a little while, 491 00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:33,800 started chewing on the garlic cloves because I like that powerful sensation when you chew 492 00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:38,840 on the garlic cloves like it's it burns and it's overwhelming for a little while. 493 00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:41,560 And that feeling is gets kind of addictive for me. 494 00:28:41,560 --> 00:28:44,840 So I kind of, I kind of like doing that, but I'll side of that. 495 00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:48,440 You're over here judging me for having a jar of garlic. 496 00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:50,920 You're over here for again, basically snoring it. 497 00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:54,680 Well, you know what, hey, we all got our vices, so you know. 498 00:28:56,920 --> 00:29:03,320 Yeah, I, there's, I pick and choose which ones that I prefer to get like you can even buy 499 00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:09,400 frozen vegetables to help you throughout the meal prep and all those things. 500 00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:10,760 There's certain ones. 501 00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:12,760 I'm really weird on certain ones. 502 00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:15,400 I don't prefer green beans frozen. 503 00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:17,000 I think, I don't like the cans. 504 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:20,440 I think that you salty and I don't like the one that's weak, right? 505 00:29:20,440 --> 00:29:21,240 I am at the end. 506 00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:24,360 Yeah, I really wish he, I don't like them. 507 00:29:24,360 --> 00:29:25,320 I don't like them at all. 508 00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:32,760 So I will buy fresh ones and another tip is I use kitchen shears. 509 00:29:32,760 --> 00:29:37,320 So kitchen scissors who do my green peppers, instead of just sitting there, 510 00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:41,800 green peppers, my green beans, instead of doing scissors, 511 00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:44,040 it makes it easier instead of using a knife. 512 00:29:44,040 --> 00:29:45,800 It's just so much quicker. 513 00:29:45,800 --> 00:29:49,480 And another use kitchen shears on what? 514 00:29:49,480 --> 00:29:50,600 Green beans. 515 00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:54,440 You mean, you actually cut the food with the scissors? 516 00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:55,800 Absolutely. 517 00:29:55,800 --> 00:29:56,760 There's four. 518 00:29:56,760 --> 00:30:01,240 I thought there's, I mean, here's our four food. 519 00:30:01,240 --> 00:30:02,840 It's a little point of them. 520 00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:06,600 It's me again and she's once again right back at it. 521 00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:07,960 I don't know what to tell you. 522 00:30:08,040 --> 00:30:09,000 She's being different. 523 00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:12,120 She's talking about cutting food with scissors. 524 00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:14,440 I even use that for chicken. 525 00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:16,440 I have to shred chicken sometimes. 526 00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:18,520 I will use scissors. 527 00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:20,520 They're for cooking. 528 00:30:20,520 --> 00:30:21,960 They're for the kitchen. 529 00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:27,240 So I make sure that I have this one pair that may not be used for anything else, 530 00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:29,640 other than food, nothing else. 531 00:30:29,640 --> 00:30:31,320 It's not used to open a bag. 532 00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:32,760 It's not used to cut paper. 533 00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:34,120 Absolutely nothing. 534 00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:41,880 I have one in there that's made to like if I want to open a bag of cheese or, you know, 535 00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:43,960 a package of meat. 536 00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:45,480 I'll use that for that stuff. 537 00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:50,280 And then I have one other pair that's specifically for whatever food product. 538 00:30:50,280 --> 00:30:52,120 It's used for nothing else. 539 00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:54,120 Even though they get washed, I still don't. 540 00:30:54,120 --> 00:30:57,480 I only use it for that and it makes life so much easier. 541 00:30:57,480 --> 00:30:58,440 It really does. 542 00:30:58,440 --> 00:31:00,200 It cuts a lot of time and half. 543 00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:03,000 I noticed a bunch of people that heard me say that. 544 00:31:03,080 --> 00:31:07,000 Yes, I am aware that there are food shares. 545 00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:10,600 I just don't use them for their intended purposes. 546 00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:14,680 My only use for scissors are for cutting things other than food. 547 00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:19,080 Even though, yes, I am aware they do make scissors that are met for cutting food. 548 00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:26,120 And this is the guy that almost poisoned his child because he made gravy. 549 00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:28,680 And almost burned his house down in the process. 550 00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:33,240 That gravy only caused a little bit okay. 551 00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:36,520 We didn't even have to call the fire department. 552 00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:39,160 They knew it was burning down okay. 553 00:31:43,160 --> 00:31:45,480 And all of our neighbors got away safe. 554 00:31:45,480 --> 00:31:50,280 Everyone can experiment but you because when you experiment, it's very scary. 555 00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:51,880 I'm very scary. 556 00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:57,080 If some things happen, you know, like you said, you got to be willing to experiment. 557 00:31:57,080 --> 00:32:01,640 I was willing to just, you know, you just can't always have the results you want. 558 00:32:02,920 --> 00:32:04,440 Oh, I thought of another point. 559 00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:09,160 Um, I didn't write all my little bulletin down and kind of go in as I go. 560 00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:14,360 But one thing that I thought about is the first month or the first week of the month, excuse me. 561 00:32:14,360 --> 00:32:17,320 The first week of the month, I do most of my freezer meals. 562 00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:20,600 Like I was saying earlier, I have lasagna, I have this, I have that. 563 00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:23,080 To the last week of each month. 564 00:32:23,160 --> 00:32:27,640 So this week, I guess, last week, because today's Tuesday. 565 00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:33,880 Last week, I went through my freezer and looked at what I did currently have in my freezer. 566 00:32:33,880 --> 00:32:36,440 I don't have much of freezer meals. 567 00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:40,520 I have like two when I said lasagna earlier and I have taco meat. 568 00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:42,440 And I think I have fish that's already done. 569 00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:43,720 Full tardy prep. 570 00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:46,520 But everything else, not so much. 571 00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:53,640 So this Sunday, I will prep probably six freezer meals. 572 00:32:53,640 --> 00:33:01,080 My freezer meals, I normally use for when I'm too tired, when I'm just lazy, or when I prefer that meal, 573 00:33:01,080 --> 00:33:02,360 specifically. 574 00:33:02,360 --> 00:33:07,800 So the other prepping involved, the onions, the this, the that, whatever, 575 00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:09,960 is for the normal cooking habits. 576 00:33:09,960 --> 00:33:15,000 The freezer meals are what I like to call the dump meals, the when I dump them in the 577 00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:20,840 crock pot, when I dump them in the Instant Pot, when I dump them in a skillet, et cetera, et cetera. 578 00:33:20,840 --> 00:33:27,560 I like to have them already prepped and done, so basically even my husband can cook them. 579 00:33:27,560 --> 00:33:31,480 I feel like it's good to pick up specific time where you make several of them. 580 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:35,000 If you're the kind of family that uses them often, then make more. 581 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:39,400 In your freezer, most meals can last months in your freezer. 582 00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:42,920 They really can't, especially if you make sure that everything's still tight. 583 00:33:42,920 --> 00:33:48,200 But dating them is key. If you do not put a date on them, you're going to open them up 584 00:33:48,200 --> 00:33:50,760 or look at them and be like, I have no idea what I made this. 585 00:33:50,760 --> 00:33:53,640 And then you're going to want to chuck it because you know, to be careful. 586 00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:55,160 But dating them is key. 587 00:33:55,160 --> 00:34:00,760 They have lots of really good websites that say which vegetables are best frozen for 588 00:34:00,760 --> 00:34:05,880 fragrated, et cetera, just be careful on which ones you put together. 589 00:34:05,880 --> 00:34:11,080 If you're not going to freeze or refrigerate them, onions and potatoes are best in the dark. 590 00:34:11,160 --> 00:34:13,400 Onion should be left by themselves. 591 00:34:13,400 --> 00:34:18,520 Like, don't have them around any other vegetables fruit and less they're in the refrigerator. 592 00:34:18,520 --> 00:34:22,040 And then when they're in the refrigerator, I like to put them in ziplock bags anyway just to keep them 593 00:34:22,040 --> 00:34:28,440 clean. But don't put them next to anything because onions and apples release a gas. 594 00:34:28,440 --> 00:34:32,360 So they will make other vegetables fruit. 595 00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:37,240 I think even breads go bad faster because of that gas they release. 596 00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:42,280 So just be mindful for that. I also have frozen right now. 597 00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:48,760 I have a banana cream pie frozen and that freeze is really well too. 598 00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:53,480 You just have to really some items you're just going to in an experimenting. 599 00:34:53,480 --> 00:34:54,920 See if it's good frozen. 600 00:34:54,920 --> 00:34:58,920 Other ones you're just going to have to look them up and stuff. 601 00:34:58,920 --> 00:35:01,640 Most vegetables do well frozen. 602 00:35:01,640 --> 00:35:04,440 Corn is one of them, peas is one of them. 603 00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:09,080 So what technique do you use when you're cooking meth? 604 00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:15,080 Well, well, you have to get it really hot don't I'm just going to eat it. 605 00:35:15,080 --> 00:35:17,400 Get your water right on. 606 00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:18,360 Yeah, right. 607 00:35:18,360 --> 00:35:22,360 All right. I got a couple of quick ones for you before we wrap it up here. 608 00:35:22,360 --> 00:35:23,240 Okay. 609 00:35:23,240 --> 00:35:24,840 Favorite meal. 610 00:35:24,840 --> 00:35:26,680 Oh, that one's hard. 611 00:35:28,120 --> 00:35:32,760 I'm not a big pasta person, but I love lasagna. 612 00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:39,720 But I guess my favorite meal that I make often is probably Chinese food. 613 00:35:39,720 --> 00:35:44,120 Me and my husband love Chinese food because there's so many options. 614 00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:46,440 Rice is super easy to make. 615 00:35:46,440 --> 00:35:50,360 You can make it with steak, with fish, with chicken. 616 00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:51,960 We mostly make it with chicken. 617 00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:56,280 I learned how to make Kung Pao chicken. 618 00:35:56,280 --> 00:36:01,160 Recently, I learned how to make general chose chicken and orange chicken. 619 00:36:01,240 --> 00:36:07,560 Most grocery stores have the pre mix that's like in a jar that you just dump over the chicken. 620 00:36:07,560 --> 00:36:09,560 There's a really good one at all these. 621 00:36:09,560 --> 00:36:14,680 That's for general chose and for orange chicken. 622 00:36:14,680 --> 00:36:16,120 Those ones are really good. 623 00:36:16,120 --> 00:36:20,680 Obviously, they're I prefer like the best one is the one that I made homemade. 624 00:36:20,680 --> 00:36:21,560 That one's really good. 625 00:36:22,600 --> 00:36:27,160 And if you don't have white vinegar, then you're not really making Chinese food. 626 00:36:27,160 --> 00:36:29,400 Just saying white vinegar is key. 627 00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:30,920 But that's what I think. 628 00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:33,720 I think Chinese food is probably our favorite meal. 629 00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:35,880 What about dessert? 630 00:36:35,880 --> 00:36:38,120 Where was what's a dessert that you must have? 631 00:36:39,160 --> 00:36:44,200 I'm not a big sweet person, but my husband's favorite dessert that I make often is cheesecake. 632 00:36:44,200 --> 00:36:45,800 He loves cheesecake. 633 00:36:45,800 --> 00:36:47,240 Side of make cheesecake often. 634 00:36:47,240 --> 00:36:49,240 Cheesecake is really good frozen. 635 00:36:49,240 --> 00:36:52,120 Also, probably pie. 636 00:36:52,120 --> 00:36:55,640 I make apple pie a lot in apple turnovers a lot. 637 00:36:55,640 --> 00:36:58,440 So those are also really good items to freeze. 638 00:36:58,760 --> 00:37:07,640 At Dollar Tree, they have pie aluminum pans that have like a dome cover to keep them, you know, 639 00:37:07,640 --> 00:37:11,160 I guess if we're traveling, I'm not quite sure, but I buy those. 640 00:37:11,160 --> 00:37:17,480 I cover it with clear wrap and then aluminum foil and then I put the dome over top. 641 00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:24,760 But just FYI, I wouldn't leave it in the refrigerator or the freezer for longer than two weeks. 642 00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:28,760 Because it's not 100% completely sealed. 643 00:37:28,760 --> 00:37:33,160 It's not as a block bag, so it's not completely sealed for those type of meals. 644 00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:34,760 The turnovers, those are fine. 645 00:37:34,760 --> 00:37:36,920 I put them in the block bags and they're great. 646 00:37:36,920 --> 00:37:40,280 And last but not least, favorite drink. 647 00:37:40,280 --> 00:37:43,400 Oh, I'm a coffee and sweet tea girl. 648 00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:46,360 So I'm all about sweet tea and coffee. 649 00:37:46,360 --> 00:37:48,360 Oh yeah, I'm with you on the coffee part. 650 00:37:48,360 --> 00:37:50,200 I love me some coffee. 651 00:37:50,200 --> 00:37:52,200 I am big on coffee. 652 00:37:52,200 --> 00:37:53,880 That was a little bit about your coffee. 653 00:37:54,040 --> 00:37:56,840 We got some coffee, a fish, and a lot of those here in the audience. 654 00:37:56,840 --> 00:38:00,200 And I'm sure they'll probably want to hear about the coffee choices. 655 00:38:01,800 --> 00:38:07,960 I'm not super picky as long as it's dark, but my absolutely favorite coffee I've ever had. 656 00:38:07,960 --> 00:38:10,440 My girlfriend is from Brazil. 657 00:38:10,440 --> 00:38:15,000 And when she went back home, she brought me Brazil, 658 00:38:15,480 --> 00:38:16,840 Brazilian coffee. 659 00:38:16,840 --> 00:38:23,640 Like, it is so strong because they, you know, they make like a spressos and like, you know, 660 00:38:24,040 --> 00:38:26,200 really, really strong coffee. 661 00:38:26,200 --> 00:38:32,680 It's probably like cool, um, it kind of tastes like a little bit like Colombian coffee, 662 00:38:32,680 --> 00:38:35,640 but it has this rich, after taste. 663 00:38:35,640 --> 00:38:37,720 It depends on how most people like their coffee. 664 00:38:37,720 --> 00:38:39,960 Most people don't drink coffee black. 665 00:38:39,960 --> 00:38:42,920 I'm one of them people that don't drink them black, normally. 666 00:38:42,920 --> 00:38:49,240 I've tried coffee black with the Brazilian Colombian, just to taste the coffee itself. 667 00:38:49,240 --> 00:38:51,560 But I do prefer creamer in mine. 668 00:38:51,560 --> 00:38:53,240 But that's my favorite coffee. 669 00:38:53,240 --> 00:38:57,640 But lately I've been having just normal. 670 00:38:57,640 --> 00:39:01,080 I like Colombian coffee on the dark roast type. 671 00:39:01,080 --> 00:39:03,640 And I like to grind my coffee. 672 00:39:03,640 --> 00:39:08,200 So I grind my beans up myself and that's what I do. 673 00:39:08,200 --> 00:39:14,120 And also my coffee has to be so hot that it's burning my esophagus. 674 00:39:14,120 --> 00:39:16,040 I like hot hot hot. 675 00:39:16,040 --> 00:39:21,480 I know you like only cold coffee, but I love hot hot hot hot. 676 00:39:22,440 --> 00:39:23,880 No, and people. 677 00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:27,560 I'm not as warmers are the best invention. 678 00:39:27,560 --> 00:39:29,960 I have a mug warmer on my desk. 679 00:39:29,960 --> 00:39:31,880 It is the best thing ever. 680 00:39:31,880 --> 00:39:33,800 It's a mug 10 bucks on Amazon. 681 00:39:33,800 --> 00:39:36,840 It is like a hot plate that it has pressure. 682 00:39:36,840 --> 00:39:40,040 So you hit the button when the mug is on there. 683 00:39:40,040 --> 00:39:41,960 You hit the on button. 684 00:39:41,960 --> 00:39:45,400 And it literally just there's a button on the bottom to help with safety. 685 00:39:45,400 --> 00:39:48,040 So as soon as you lift up your mug, it turns off. 686 00:39:48,040 --> 00:39:51,000 And when you place your mug back on, it turns back on. 687 00:39:51,080 --> 00:39:54,920 It just heats up the mug ever so slightly and it keeps your coffee hot. 688 00:39:54,920 --> 00:39:58,120 And I'm guessing that this is ceramic mugs only. 689 00:39:58,120 --> 00:40:01,080 That kind of thing right to what exactly. 690 00:40:01,080 --> 00:40:02,680 What other mugs would there be? 691 00:40:02,680 --> 00:40:05,240 Well, they do make those glass mugs. 692 00:40:05,240 --> 00:40:07,560 I mean, I don't have a glass mug. 693 00:40:07,560 --> 00:40:11,160 So I wouldn't be able to tell you if a glass mug is fine with it. 694 00:40:11,160 --> 00:40:14,280 I wouldn't recommend it because the handle would get hot, I guess, 695 00:40:14,280 --> 00:40:16,760 because glass is a conductor. 696 00:40:16,760 --> 00:40:21,400 So the glass would get hot, but other than that, 697 00:40:21,400 --> 00:40:26,840 I think I think most people have glass mugs for tea more than coffee. 698 00:40:27,800 --> 00:40:29,880 I don't see it being a problem. 699 00:40:29,880 --> 00:40:35,320 But I would double check with whatever product you buy before you put a glass 700 00:40:35,320 --> 00:40:39,480 one on there because I have glass cookware. 701 00:40:39,480 --> 00:40:46,360 So I have glass pans that I use for casseroles and my lasagna and all those things 702 00:40:46,360 --> 00:40:47,880 I have a glass pan. 703 00:40:47,880 --> 00:40:49,240 Those can go on the stove. 704 00:40:49,240 --> 00:40:50,920 So I don't see the problem. 705 00:40:50,920 --> 00:40:51,720 That's pyrex. 706 00:40:52,760 --> 00:40:55,320 Yeah, that will mine's not pyrex brand. 707 00:40:55,320 --> 00:40:57,080 But yeah, I get what you're saying. 708 00:40:57,080 --> 00:41:03,800 My, so I just don't know because usually those cups are not as thick as those pans and stuff. 709 00:41:03,800 --> 00:41:08,200 So I can't answer that question or whether it's going to be safe for glass ones. 710 00:41:08,200 --> 00:41:11,000 But it's one over cent okay with the ceramic. 711 00:41:11,080 --> 00:41:19,160 I don't prefer to put my my travel cups on there just because I don't know if it'll ruin them 712 00:41:19,160 --> 00:41:21,240 or not and also there's not really a point. 713 00:41:21,240 --> 00:41:24,680 The travel mugs are meant to keep things hot anyway. 714 00:41:24,680 --> 00:41:30,600 But, you know, between doing school and if I'm gaming or if I'm just surfing the web, 715 00:41:30,600 --> 00:41:32,360 it's really convenient. 716 00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:37,160 I'm a fast coffee drinker, but sometimes halfway through it's just not hot enough for me. 717 00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:41,560 So my little, my little thing that I got from my birthday, wonderful. 718 00:41:41,560 --> 00:41:42,360 I love it. 719 00:41:42,360 --> 00:41:44,120 Well, that is fantastic. 720 00:41:44,120 --> 00:41:49,320 I'm sure the audience has a lot to chew on in this episode. 721 00:41:49,320 --> 00:41:52,920 I thank you for coming out and giving us all these wonderful tips. 722 00:41:52,920 --> 00:41:54,920 Everybody's been waiting to hear from you again. 723 00:41:54,920 --> 00:41:56,680 We're glad to have you back. 724 00:41:56,680 --> 00:41:57,960 Yeah, glad to be back. 725 00:41:57,960 --> 00:41:58,920 That's fun. 726 00:41:58,920 --> 00:42:01,320 We're going to go ahead and wrap this one up. 727 00:42:01,320 --> 00:42:04,360 We'll catch you in the next episode of Hacker Public Radio. 728 00:42:04,360 --> 00:42:06,600 I'm some guy on internet here with. 729 00:42:06,600 --> 00:42:08,440 Bumblebee. Bye. 730 00:42:08,440 --> 00:42:09,000 Bye bye.